The Munsters

The Munsters is a black and white series from the mid 1960’s following the adventures of a family of friendly monsters living in a fictional suburb of California called “Mockingbird Heights”.

The family consists of five members: Herman (Fred Gwynne), Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), Eddie (Butch Patrick), Grandpa (Al Lewis) and Marilyn (Beverley Owen and Pat Priest). Whilst technically they’re monsters, all but Marilyn consider themselves a typical working-class family. They live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in an old Victorian house filled with cobwebs and dark corners. They have two cars, the Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA, and several interesting pets: Spot, Elodie’s fire breathing dragon, lives under the staircase but is rarely seen; Kitty is the family’s pet black cat, normal except that instead of a meow he has a lion’s growl; and a cuckoo, incongruously called The Raven, who gave himself the nickname of Charlie and spends his time residing in the cuckoo clock and shouting out, “Nevermore, Nevermore”. All in all, not your typical neighbors.

Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) – Herman is the head of the Munster family. A husband, father and uncle, he was created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in 1815, finally being completed at the University of Heidelberg along with his twin brother Charlie around 1850. He makes his living at Gateman, Goodbury and Graves funeral home, sometimes being picked up in the company hearse and riding in the back like a corpse. He is married to Lily and they have one son, Eddie. Although Herman has been alive for centuries he is a child at heart, loving candy, balloons and comic books, and throwing tantrums if things don’t go his way. His skin is green, he is incredibly strong and cannot look into a mirror without cracking it.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo) – Vampire Lily is Herman’s wife. Born in 1827 to Sam Dracula (Grandpa) and his wife (known only as Grandma) she married Herman in 1865 in Transylvania, moving to America in the early 1940’s with her husband and father in tow. Sometime after their arrival in the States they adopted Lily’s sister’s daughter, Marilyn, and later had their own child, Eddie. Whilst hot-tempered, Lily remains the voice of reason in the family, mediating between Grandpa and Herman – whom she affectionately calls “Pussycat” – when they argue. She treats Marilyn as if she were her own daughter, going out of her way to be nice to her dates even when their terror at meeting the family makes them appear a little rude. A housewife, Lily’s main chores involve spreading garbage around and “vacuuming” the house by using a vacuum cleaner in reverse and blowing dust everywhere. Lily has long dark hair with a striking white streak, and is seen mostly in a pink dress and a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a bat. Although a vampire, she sleeps at night, goes out in the daylight, and does not crave blood.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Grandpa “Sam Dracula” Munster (Al Lewis) – Grandpa is the father of Lily and, like his daughter, is a vampire. He lives with the rest of the family but is often holed up in his laboratory in the cellar, creating magic spells and potions. Grandpa can be sarcastic, especially when it comes to his son-in-law, Herman, but the two are close and work together on numerous zany schemes. Not your typical vampire, Grandpa nevertheless shares some traits with others of his kind: he occasionally tries to bite a human on the arm, he doesn’t usually cast a reflection and he can turn himself into a bat or wolf. He has a pet bat named Igor, who spends a lot of his time in Grandpa’s lab. Much like Igor, Grandpa sleeps by hanging upside down from the ceiling, usually in the attic or lab.

Marilyn Munster (Beverley Owen and Pat Priest) – The niece of Herman and Lily and the granddaughter of Grandpa, Marilyn is the ugly duck of the family. For reasons we are never told, she has lived with her aunt and uncle for much of her life and has the misfortune to resemble Marilyn Monroe. Always upset by the fact that she cannot seem to keep a boyfriend, Marilyn is unaware that it’s not her looks that are driving the young men away, but those of her relatives. She attends Westbury College in Mockingbird Heights and, despite looking very different to them, is very close to all her family. She is often seen assisting her Aunt Lily spreading cobwebs about the house or cooking a rodent for dinner, and she considers the Munster lifestyle the only normal way to live.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick) – Eddie is the only child of Herman and Lily and a relatively normal boy in most ways but one – he’s a werewolf. He goes to a regular elementary school, and except for his widow’s peak, pointed ears and his choice of clothing (a Fauntleroy suit), he is just like all the other boys. He sleeps in a chest of drawers with a stuffed werewolf named Woof-Woof and is very proud of his father, often telling tall tales of Herman’s greatness and volunteering him for challenges well beyond his capabilities – which Herman gamely attempts for the sake of his son.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Main Cast

Character

Actor

Herman Munster

Fred Gwynne

Lily Munster

Yvonne De Carlo

Grandpa Munster

Al Lewis

Marilyn Munster

Beverley Owen and Pat Priest

Eddie Munster

Butch Patrick

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Additional Cast

Character

Actor

Clyde Thornton

Chet Stratton

Dr. Leinbach

Harvey Korman

Jack

Edward Mallory

Dr. Dudley

Paul Lynde

Police Officer

Pat McCaffrie

Mr. Gateman

John Carradine

Fanny Pike

Jane Withers

Marty

Val Avery

Mr. Bradley

Willis Bouchey

Lester

Irwin Charone

Barney Walters

John Hoyt

‘Leadfoot’ Baylor

Henry Beckman

Big Leo

Gene Blakely

Miss Hazlett

Marge Redmond

Blinky

Johnny Silver

Sonny Harkness

Pat Harrington, Jr.

Coach Roger Denman

Frank Maxwell

Calvin

Bryan O’Byrne

Gil Craig

Richard Reeves

Lou

Joyce Jameson

Jack McGinty

Jackie Minty

Susan

Alma Murphy

Attendant

Bill Quinn

George Washington

Walter Woolf King

Policeman

Dennis Cross

The 1st Woman

Helen Kleeb

Momma

Bella Bruck

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Trivia

Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) graduated from Harvard University in 1951.

Pat Priest (Marilyn Munster #2) bought a 1967 Cadillac El Dorado convertible from legendary singer Elvis Presley for $3,000. She traded it just a few years later, but didn’t tell the dealer that the car had once been owned by Presley.

The original DRAG-ULA car from the series now hangs from the ceiling of Planet Hollywood in Atlantic City. Both it and the Monster Koach were built by George Barris, a Hollywood car customizer. Barris also built the Batmobile for the 1966 series of Batman, the VW car for Herbie, The Love Bug, and the truck in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Butch Patrick suffered an almost fatal drug overdose in 2010, just days after walking out of a rehabilitation center in New Jersey. He had checked in to get help for his cocaine addiction.

In 1998, Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor of New York. One of the campaign objectives was to guarantee the party an automatic ballot line for the next four years, which he achieved by exceeding the required voting threshold of 50,000, winning 52,533 votes.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Mel Blanc provided the voice of The Raven on the show, but was uncredited. Bob Hastings also supplied the voice on the rare occasion when Blanc was not available.

Beverley Owen, who played the role of Marilyn Munster for the first thirteen episodes of the series, left the show to get married (and because she disliked the role, having only taken it in the first place out of contractual obligations to Universal Studios). Her marriage lasted ten years and resulted in two daughters. She now lives a private life away from the entertainment industry.

After a minor stroke, Yvonne De Carlo (Lily Munster) spent the last years of her life at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland, California. She died of natural causes in 2007.

Not only an actor, Fred Gwynne also sang professionally, wrote and illustrated children’s books and painted.

The Munsters’ rival series was The Addams Family. The two shows debuted within a week of each other and both were cancelled after only two seasons.

Al Lewis had a third angioplasty in 2003 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Complications developed, ending with the amputation of his right leg below the knee as well as the toes on his left foot.

Pat Priest’s mother, Ivy Baker Priest, was heavily involved in politics and served as the Unites States Treasurer during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration. She was also California’s Treasurer when Ronald Reagan was Governor of California and her signature appeared on U.S. currency from 1953 to 1961.

In 2004, the character of Herman Munster was ranked #19 in TV Guide’s list of “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time”.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Yvonne De Carlo became a naturalized citizen of the United States, but only after being arrested at one point by immigration officers and deported to Canada. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Fred Gwynne served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Over the years, it has been repeatedly claimed that Herman and Lily were the first couple on TV to share a bed – but this is not true. The first couple was actually Mary Kay and John Stearns, who were married in real life and played the couple of Mary Kay and Johnny in the show of the same name. The first TV couple to share a bed and not be married in real life was Darrin and Samantha in Bewitched.

Beverley Owen appeared in the soap opera Another World for two years in the early 1970’s.

Fred Gwynne lost enormous amounts of weight from perspiration while filming the show, due to a combination of hot lights, 40 to 50 lbs. worth of padding and a large amount of make-up. His weight loss continued despite him drinking gallons of lemonade, taking salt tablets and even using an air tube to cool the inside of his costume.

Al Lewis claimed that he read a different book every day of his life.

Despite being conceived in color, the show was shot in black and white because the studio didn’t want to pay the additional $10,000 per episode it would have cost to produce the series in color. It has also been said that the network felt that having the show in color would be too scary for children to watch.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Yvonne De Carlo was an active Republican, campaigning for both Ronald Regan and Richard Nixon during their presidential elections. She was also elected Honorary Mayor of North Hollywood in 1969.

In the early 80’s, Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) recorded a pop song as Eddie and the Monsters called What Ever Happened to Eddie? to the music from The Munsters theme tune.

Pat Priest now lives in Idaho, restoring and reselling houses.

The building used for the Munster House has appeared in several other shows including Shirley, Coach and, most recently, Desperate Housewives.

In the late 1980’s, Al Lewis opened a restaurant called Grampa’s Bella Gente in Greewich Village in New York City. Shorty afterwards he also opened a comedy club called Grandpa’s in the New Dorp section of Staten Island.

Butch Patrick announced in 2011 that he had prostate cancer. He also said that it was caught early and that he was staying positive about his prognosis.

Yvonne De Carlo took the role of Lily Munster to help pay the medical bills for her husband at the time, Bob Morgan, an actor and stuntman who had lost his left leg while performing a stunt on a moving train during filming of the movie How The West Was Won. MGM took no responsibility for the accident, and De Carlo and Morgan later filed a $1.4 million dollar lawsuit against the studio. It took five years for Morgan to recover and De Carlo put her career on hold in order to help nurse him back to health.

In 1989 Beverley Owen (the first Marilyn Munster) earned her master’s degree in Early American History.